Chapter Two
Alexa’s internal alarm clock woke her just after six the next morning. She was impossibly stiff from spending the night on the floor and her head was pounding. It was obvious by the heat radiating from her left cheek that she had another bruise, as well. Sadly, this was nothing new for her.
Acting on instinct alone, she stumbled into the large kitchen in Tyrell’s condo and poured herself a cup of strong coffee. She momentarily debated slipping some vodka into it, but her conscience got the best of her. Walking back into the living room, she turned on the television set. Keeping the volume low, not wanting to wake Tyrell, she flipped through the channels until she landed on the early morning news. The picture that flashed before her on the screen nearly made her drop the mug of coffee in her hands.
"The body of a white male was discovered by LAPD yesterday evening outside of The Riv nightclub," a professional-looking broadcaster announced. "The body has been positively identified as that of Mr. Matthew Kennedy. He appears to have been shot to death. There are currently no suspects in this case, but drugs are a possible motive."
Alexa turned the television back off and moved numbly to the bathroom. Refusing to look in the mirror, she slipped off her nightgown, turned on the shower, and stepped inside. As the hot water poured over her, stinging the various bruises on her body, she let her mind wander.
She had recognized the picture of Matthew immediately. He was one of what Tyrell would call his "business associates." To put it plainly, he was a dealer. Tyrell liked to pretend that Alexa wasn’t aware of how he earned his money. But she wasn’t stupid. She knew how much it cost to keep them in this plush condo. And she was never lacking when it came to material items. Buying clothes and jewelry was Tyrell’s way of "taking care of his woman." And he wouldn’t have been able to "take care" of her like he did if his only job was working as a bouncer at a local club, which is what he was actually paid to do.
When they had first gotten together, Tyrell hadn’t been the big-time drug pusher that he was now. He didn’t have to sell the cocaine and heroin anymore. He just passed it out to his dealers and waited for them to bring him the money. And Alexa was certain that Matthew was dead because he hadn’t done just that. She was also fairly sure that Tyrell hadn’t pulled the trigger. He had "associates" to do that for him. He wouldn’t go to jail. He probably wouldn’t even be linked to the murder. Tyrell was smarter than that. As Alexa stepped from the shower she caught a glimpse of herself in the floor length mirror that adorned the back of the bathroom door. The tears she had been trying so hard to hold off suddenly poured onto her cheeks. She looked horrible. Dark purple, black, and blue welts covered the majority of her face. Matching bruises were also scattered across her thighs, upper arms, and torso. A few were older and beginning to turn sickly shades of green, brown, and yellow. Her uniform would cover the evidence of Tyrell’s hands on her body, but her face was a different story.
Alexa sighed, shaking her head and brushing away her tears. Crying never solved anything. She berated herself for being such an emotional baby. "Get it together, Lex," she whispered into the fogged up mirror. She was expected at the restaurant in just over an hour for the morning rush. All she could do now was focus on the make-up job that lay ahead. She more than had her work cut out for her.
~*~
JC Chasez sat up in his bed, growling angrily. It was seven thirty in the morning. Why in the hell was he awake? Especially on a day when he wasn’t expected to be anywhere or do anything until after noon? Truth was, he hadn’t been sleeping well lately. His attempts at sleep had been plagued by nightmares that he could never remember once he was awake. All that he knew was that they left an ominous feeling lingering about his room.
He’d been staying in his newly built house in Los Angeles for the past three days, alone. Typically when he was here, his girlfriend joined him. But, being recently single again, her presence was no longer wanted. He thought perhaps that was why he’d been unable to sleep. His large bed was lonelier than he had expected it to be without her in it.
JC would have to get used it, though. His schedule called for him to be in LA for a little over a month. He would be doing studio work with several different artists as well as a few promotional stops with NSYNC.
"As long as I’m up, might as well get breakfast," JC mumbled to his empty bedroom. Throwing back the covers, he pulled on a pair of sweatpants and padded down his carpeted stairs to the kitchen…only to find that his refrigerator was nicely devoid of eggs, bread, even orange juice. And there wasn’t a box of cereal to be found in any of his cupboards. Trudging back up the stairs, he made a mental note to go shopping later. Right after he went out for breakfast.
~*~
"Lordy," Alexa’s friend and fellow waitress, Alona, said under her breath as she passed by Alexa in the busy restaurant, almost hitting Alexa’s tray with her own. "They’re really coming out of the woodwork this morning."
"Lordy," Alexa’s friend and fellow waitress, Alona, said under her breath as she passed by Alexa in the busy restaurant, almost hitting Alexa’s tray with her own. "They’re really coming out of the woodwork this morning."
"No doubt," Alexa replied, shaking her head. Jim’s Family Restaurant was always crowded on Saturday mornings, but today was definitely worse than usual. She’d only been at work for 45 minutes and was already wishing to go home. Of course, the bruises on her arms made it difficult to carry the heavy trays, so that wasn’t helping any.
"Hottie at table five," Alona giggled as the two friends again crossed each other’s paths. "How come you always get the cute ones?"
Alexa sighed and looked to the back of the room where table five was located. The man sitting there didn’t particularly strike her as interesting, although she couldn’t deny that he looked slightly familiar. The backwards baseball cap and dark glasses he was wearing made her worry that he might be one of Tyrell's associates come to check up on her. She hoped that she was wrong. After refilling the coffee cup of one patron and picking up her tip from another, she made her way to the man’s table.
"Sorry for the wait. What can I get ya?" she questioned typically, tapping her pen against the small pad of paper in her hand.
"I’ll take a cup of coffee, black; two eggs, scrambled with a side of bacon; a large orange juice and, uhh, a short stack of the blueberry pancakes." He looked up and smiled at her from behind his sunglasses. "No hurry," he told her cordially. "Just whenever you get the chance."
Alexa couldn’t help but arch an eyebrow. "Somebody’s hungry this morning."
The man simply shrugged, continued to smile, and handed her his menu. "Can I get a side of hash browns with that, too?"
"Sure," she laughed, nodding her head as she walked away. "Coming right up."
"Told ya he was hot," Alona commented absently as Alexa entered the kitchen and gave her order to one of the cooks.
"Yeah, he’s alright," she replied, not really thinking about it. "Pretty cute, I guess."
Emma, another waitress, laughed at both of them. "That’s not just some random hottie, girls. That’s JC Chasez."
~*~
JC was finally finishing up with his lumberjack-sized breakfast as the crowd in the restaurant began to disperse. It normally didn’t take him nearly this long to eat, but he had taken his time. He was enjoying the friendly banter going back and forth between himself and his adorable redheaded waitress. He wasn’t sure if she knew who he was or not, but surprisingly, that didn’t bother him.
"I see Mr. Let’s-Eat-The-Restaurant-Out-Of-House-And-Home is finally done," Alexa quipped as she approached his table. "Is there anything else I can get for you? Not that it’s possible for there to be any more room in that stomach of yours."
"Have you been checking out my stomach?" he replied flatly.
"Uhh, well," Alexa faltered but then noticed the bright smile on his face and began to laugh. "You suck. Give me your cash and get the hell out of here." She motioned over her shoulder to the door. "You’ve given me enough grief for one day."
"Well there goes your tip," JC joked, looking out at her over the sunglasses he still had on.
Not thinking twice, Alexa leaned down and grabbed the sunglasses from the bridge of his nose. She didn’t realize that in doing so she had given him an ample view of her upper chest. "You’re not fooling anybody with these glasses, Mr. Chasez." She winked at him playfully. "Just thought I’d let ya know." She turned to go but stopped when she felt his hand on her wrist.
"Thanks for the info," JC replied lightly, but he wasn’t smiling. He didn’t like what he had just seen. "That’s a pretty bad bruise ya got there. What happened?"
Alexa looked down and immediately fixed her blouse so it covered the remnants of her argument with Tyrell. "I ran into a door, believe it or not," she responded without a pause, never losing her smile. "Clumsy me." Lying about her condition had become second nature to Alexa. "By the way," she added, grabbing his bill and the cash he had laid down on the table. "I don’t appreciate you looking down my shirt."
As she was turning to head to the cash register, Alexa’s boss, Jim, called to her from the front of the now nearly empty restaurant. "Lex, Ty’s here."
She turned around completely and found her boyfriend leaning against the front counter, a small smile on his face and a red rose in his large black hands. It was hard to miss Alona leaning her head out of the kitchen, a look of concern in her eyes. Alexa shooed her away with a nod of her head. "Hey, baby," she said softly, plastering on her smile and walking towards him. "What you doing here so early in the morning?"
"You didn’t wake me up before you left," Tyrell replied, his voice deep as he handed her the rose. He leaned in and kissed her softly. "I just wanted to make sure you were having a good day."
Alexa brought the rose to her nose and inhaled its soft scent. This was typical for Tyrell. He was known for his apologies on all the morning-afters that Alexa had to endure. As he pulled her into his arms, however, she sensed that something was wrong. "Thank you," she whispered, brushing his cheek with her lips.
"Who’s the guy?" he hissed into her ear. Already things were falling apart. This might have been a new record.
"Just a customer," she tired to assure, looking up at him innocently. "I promise."
Tyrell seemed satisfied for the moment. But things got worse as JC stood up from his table and stalked past the couple towards the exit. He had seen enough. It didn’t take a genius to figure out where that bruise on his waitress’s chest had come from. He would never understand why women stayed with men who abused them.
"Wait," Alexa said hurriedly, pulling away from Tyrell just slightly. "Let me get your change."
"Keep it," JC called back, not turning his head to look at her as the door closed behind him. He was starting to feel sick to his stomach.
Tyrell glared down at Alexa angrily. She was holding a hundred dollar bill in her hand. His mind jumping to conclusions like it did, he instantly wanted to know why any man would leave his woman a tip that large. There was only one possibility. And he didn’t like it. Grabbing her arm roughly, he pulled her back to him. "We’ll discuss this tonight when you get home."
He shoved her into the counter before walking out.
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